Visiting a synagogue in Haifa

Our rabbi at Emet V'Shalom, our Reform congregation in Nahariya, is on sabbatical for 6 months. Normally, we are still attending there, of course, and, in fact, I often participate in leading. But this past Friday night, we decided to check out one of the 2 Reform synagogues in Haifa. On Friday morning, I wrote to both of them. Of course, I should have written a day or two earlier. Anyway, one of them, אור חדש Or Chadash ("New Light"), managed to write back to me the same day, and so that's where we went. We'll check the other one out another time, since they, too, have now answered my e-mail to them.

Or Chadash has a beautiful building with a spectacular view of Haifa Bay, and they sponsor many activities going on all the time. It's not the sort of place that appeals that much to us, but we still enjoyed our visit. Groups of people from 2 different congregations in the States were visiting there that evening, together with their respective rabbis. Both visiting rabbis spoke, partly in Hebrew but mostly in English. One of them was quite fluent in Hebrew and had relatively little American accent. The other had a really bad American accent! At any rate, I was pleased to find that I understood virtually ALL the Hebrew, from the American rabbis AND from the rabbi of the congregation.

The most moving part of the evening for both of us was the welcoming of a couple of new converts to Judaism. They live in Katzrin, the city in the Golan that we can see from our house. They were a middle-aged to older couple, and by their names we could tell that they were Russian. They had traveled for something like a year, every week, all the way to Haifa (a drive of at LEAST an hour and a half to two hours!) to study at Or Chadash for their conversion. According to the rabbi, a full 2% of all people converting in Israel study at Or Chadash! However, they all have to appear before and be approved by an orthodox Beit Din (religious court). After introducing them and reading the official proclamation, the rabbis led us in welcoming them by saying 3 times:

את אחותינו at akhoteinu ("You are our sister.")

אתה שחינו ata akhinu ("You are our brother.")

What a wonderful way to welcome new Jews! Both David and I were moved to tears.

A visit to Khamat Gader

Today, David and I visited חמת גדר Khamat Gader for the first time. It's located in the Yarmukh River Valley (the Yarmukh River flows into the Jordan River not far south of the Kinneret) right on the border with Jordan (the country, not the river!) at the southern end of the Golan. There are mineral hot springs there, so there are big pools of warm water (upper 86˚-88˚ F). There is also a small zoo with lots of many different kinds of תנינים taninim (alligators, crocodiles, Caymans, and other similar large reptiles).

We enjoyed soaking in the pools and seeing the animals. The air temperature was just perfect down there (150 meters below sea level). Of course, there were lots of people, but it wasn't too crowded to enjoy. We plan to go back again sometime during the winter, hopefully on a weekday (Sunday through Thursday) instead of on the weekend.

New street signs (and names!) in Neve Oranim

Within the last few weeks, street signs have finally been put up in our neighborhood, Neve Oranim. Before this, there really was no way to tell what the names of the streets were, and, in fact, I think they really didn't even HAVE names! So, yesterday I went around taking pictures of the signs, and here they are (only one for each street):

Next, I went to Google Maps and downloaded a satellite/map image of the neighborhood. To this image, I added the names of the streets in red letters inside a red box. I'm sorry that it's a little hard to read. Our house, which is too new to be visible in the satellite picture, is just inside the loop north west of the intersection of Yahalom St. and Leshem St.
By the way, they picked a nice system for the street names. The name of the connector road, רחוב דרך אבני החושן Rekhov Derekh Avnei HaKhoshen ("Way of the Breastplate Stones Street"), is the clue. All of the other streets are named after precious stones that were in the breastplate of the high priest, as detailed in the Torah.

אודם Odem, as you might guess from its Hebrew root, means "ruby".

ברקת Bareket means "agate".

נופך Nofekh means "turquoise" or "garnet".

ספיר Sapir means "sapphire" (as you might guess from its transliteration).

יהלום Yahalom means "diamond" (so OUR street is the MOST precious!).

לשם Leshem means "opal".

David is home!

Although they had planned to send David to a rehab hospital, after further evaluation, Maccabi (our kupat cholim, or HMO) decided to release him to come home and to send nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, and perhaps others to our house. So, David came home with me yesterday (Tuesday)! He was a little unsteady on his feet yesterday, but today he's much improved. He can walk fairly well on his own now, although I still help him go up and down stairs.

Thanks for all of you for your thoughts and prayers!

David much improved

I am so happy to report that David has improved markedly. Today, he was able to walk by himself with someone (i.e. me or the physical therapist) just hovering next to him. This is a dramatic improvement from barely being able to lift his legs while lying down a couple of weeks ago.

Tomorrow, he is scheduled to be transferred to a rehab hospital (Fliman Hospital) in the Nave Shaanan area of Haifa. I suspect that he actually won't be there very long because he'll be ready to be sent home. But whatever time he does spend there will be very helpful for getting him really back on track and healthy again.

So, you may be asking, what caused all these problems? We asked the chief neurologist on the ward about that today, and she said that they have concluded that it was a reaction to, of all things, his anti-epilepsy medicine! At one point, they had been concerned about an irregularity that his MRI showed, but now they think that it was a result of the seizures rather than their cause. He is to have another MRI to be scheduled 6 weeks after the first, and they expect that the abnormality will have disappeared by then.

David and I are now both feeling much relief, and we want to thank all of you for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers.

Pictures from around Rambam Medical Center

Here are some more pictures that I took on my walks around Rambam Medical Center (in Haifa). The first one is a nice view of the area just outside the neurology department where David is hospitalized. The sliding glass doors on the right of the picture lead directly into the ward. The path of the left side of the picture is part of the ramp between the corridor along the "pavilions" (David's building is one of them) and the main building, which is out of sight to the left.

If you go up the ramp and enter the main building, you are immediately in a little mall. The following picture is a view inside that mall. On the right side, you can see an ice cream stand, which has yummy ice cream! Further to the right, out of the picture, is a food court, including a MacDonald's, a pizza place, and a couple of other fast food joints. On the left side of the picture, you can see a lottery sales stand and, further back, a branch of צומת ספרים Tzomet Sfarim ("Book Junction"), one of the two major bookstore chains here in Israel. Further to the left, out of this picture are a candy store, a pharmacy, and a gift store.
I actually took this next picture a day or two earlier. This is a view of the big hole they are digging there. It will house an underground parking structure, above which will be 3 new large buildings. The hoses that you see coming out of the vertical pipes are carrying the ground water that is being pumped out to the sea. See my previous post for pictures of it entering the sea. The tiny size of the workers in this picture can give you a sense of the scale of this hole!
Here's another picture of the big hole, taken from the main entrance to Rambam. This is also the road that they use to get down into the hole. In this view, you can see the two large cranes that are working there. Also, on the left is the tower that houses the Technion Medical School. The tall building on the right is the Sammy Ofer tower, the current main building of Rambam. The mall seen earlier is on the ground floor of this building but actually the other side of the tall part. The building a little to the left of the main building in this picture is the Rambam Children's Hospital.

By the sea near David's room

The unit where David is at Rambam is on the ground floor of a small building. If you walk out the main entrance, turn right, and then turn right again, you can follow a path between the buildings, past the window to David's room, and on to a small parking lot. The other side of the parking lot is the Mediterranean Sea.

The other day, when I was there, I saw this crow. At first, he was sitting on a fire hydrant, but then he flew over and perched on this sign:

At the time, I just snapped the picture without bothering to read the sign. But later I returned I read it. Here's my translation of what it says:

"This water flowing into the sea is only pumped ground water necessary for the construction of an underground parking structure for the Rambam hospital. This pumping and piping is being carried out with permission from the Office for the Protection of the Environment and in coordination with the City of Haifa.

For details, telephone 8542417."

Actually, I had already figure out where the water was coming from by following the pipes back. Already for quite a few months now there has been a HUGE deep whole right near the main entrance to the Rambam Medical Center complex. Not only are they building an underground parking structure, but on top of it will be three new large buildings. There's a model just inside the current main building showing how the campus will look when the construction is done. It seems like it will be very nice, and the parking situation should be much better, too. I also noticed that the whole row of small buildings where David is now will be gone.

Here's another picture (actually taken the next day) showing the fountain of water. In the background, you can see small sailboats, large container ships, and, on the horizon, Rosh HaNikra, which is the Lebanon border!

David settled well into the hospital

Today (Wednesday, 29 September) I spent the whole day at the hospital with David. I left home at 7:00 a.m. and didn't get back until after 7:30 p.m. David is doing quite well and feels better and much more rested. He isn't having any more seizures, but his hands are still pretty unsteady and his cognitive processes are still a bit messed up. I got him some candies and a couple of bottles of Coke Zero before all the stores in the hospital mini-mall closed for the holiday (last day of Succot and Simchat Torah).

Tomorrow, I'm planning to attend the morning prayers at Emet V'Shalom (our Reform synagogue in Nahariya) and then to pop on down to Haifa to spend the rest of the day with David.

Thanks to all of you for your prayers and good wishes!

David hospitalized after series of seizures

Yesterday (Monday, 27 September), David had multiple seizures during the day, so we took him to the Emergency Room at Rambam Medical Center in Haifa. After all night and all morning this morning in the ER, they finally admitted him to the Neurology unit at about 1 p.m. The seizures are apparently due to dangerously low levels of sodium (of all things!) in his blood. But the real question is WHY the sodium levels (which have been detected before and resulted in his last admission to Rambam) are so low.

I'll try to post more news as I have it. Thanks for keeping him and me in your thoughts and prayers!

- Arlan

Gamla National Park, in a wheelchair

We got up fairly early today, and David was feeling relatively good. So we decided to drive over to Gamla National Park, in the Golan, a place we have visited several times before.

The weather was not too hot in the morning, and they have a nice paved loop path there. So it was pretty easy to do with me pushing David in the wheelchair.

We spent quite a bit of time in the covered area they have there for observing the vultures, and we listened to a park ranger telling about them. Although he did speak a little English, and some other people who happened to be there translated a bit for us, he spoke mostly in Hebrew. I picked up maybe 15-20% of what he said, but it was still interesting.

The vultures have a wingspan of more than 2 and a half meters, yet they weigh only 8 kg (less than 18 pounds). They can soar very high on the updrafts and travel long distances, as far away as Turkey, Bulgaria, and even Russia! They can carry as much as 1.5 kg (more than 3 pounds) of food in their throats back to their babies in the nest! The babies grow from only 20 g (less than a pound) at hatching to full size in only 4 months!

I didn't get any pictures of the vultures this time, but I did photograph some strange and interesting flowers that were blooming there all over the place. Here's one of my pictures:

David's recent and continuing problems

I know that this is a terrible time to post an entry like this. Succot is supposed to be זמן שמחתנו zman simkhatenu, the time of our joy, and we are told והיית אח שמח v'hayita akh sameakh, "and you will be especially happy". But life doesn't always follow the neatly laid out seasons, and so here we are.

I don't want to bore you, and, more importantly, I really don't want to dwell on negative things. So I'll try to be brief (not my forte, as you all know!) and to give you only the highlights.

Already by last winter, we had realized that David was having some kind of cognitive difficulties. We feared that it might be early Alzheimer's, since his father had had it, starting at about his age. So, we arranged an appointment (at our own expense, since it wasn't covered) at the Cognitive Clinic at Rambam Medical Center in Haifa last February. The appointment took several hours, during which time an expert neurologist specializing in this area interviewed us together and did extensive cognitive tests on David alone. The conclusion was that he did, indeed, have some abnormal cognitive problems but that it is NOT Alzheimer's. She also said that he should have an MRI, but, of course, that has to be ordered by a Maccabi (our HMO) neurologist and approved by Maccabi, since it's very expensive. So it was not initially approved.

Meanwhile, David began having epileptic seizures, although they happened when no one was present in the room to view precisely what happened. Nevertheless, he had several falls, and he also began having "drop outs", short times when it is like the electrical system dropping out for just a fraction of a second. These, too, however can cause falls if he is standing. Besides this, his balance began deteriorating and he became quite unstable walking. He began using an old cane of my Mom's and eventually we got a better one for him, although it's currently only on loan.

In the week before Yom Kippur (which was on 18 September this year), we realized that we would need a wheelchair for that day. Virtually no one in Israel drives on Yom Kippur, so we had arranged to spend the night with friends who live in Nahariya. However, there was clearly NO WAY that David would be able to walk between their apartment and the synagogue. So, we went to a medical equipment store in Kiryat Shmona and purchased a wheelchair, figuring that he would need it for other occasions as well.

Last Monday night (or, really, very early Tuesday morning), David got up in the night to go to the bathroom, which is quite normal for him, even though he had fallen several times in the past when doing this. This time, he fell as he was turning around to sit on the toilet and hurt his ankle. We thought that it was broken, but when we had it x-rayed we found that, thankfully, it was not, only sprained. Nevertheless, he has not been able to walk on it and thus has become wheelchair-bound, making us very thankful for that purchase! The ankle has definitely begun healing, but he still can only take a step or two on his left foot. We set up a roll-away bed for him in the living room so that he doesn't have to get up the 17 steps to our upstairs bedroom (or even the 5 steps to the closest bedroom). This has worked well for him. We also hit upon the idea of using old empty coffee cans for him to pee in instead of having to risk getting to the bathroom during the night (which we should have thought of long ago!).

So, you are probably asking by now, "What is causing these problems?" Unfortunately, we don't have any answers yet. The local Maccabi neurologist, who is very good, sent him to the Epilepsy Clinic at Rambam, where he was seen by an expert there. She also said that he should have both an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) and an EEG (electro-encephalogram). This time, when the local neurologist ordered these, Maccabi approved both of them. We still have to schedule the EEG (which should be fairly easy), and the MRI is already scheduled for 4 October (after the holidays, of course!). Thus, we are simply waiting and wondering what they will find, which isn't particularly easy.

The balance problem and the cognitive difficulties have both continued to slowly deteriorate. The latter tends to be somewhat sporadic, so often David's thinking is perfectly normal. But then, suddenly, he will forget what he is saying in mid-sentence, or he will become very confused about something that happened very recently or about what day it is. It's all quite worrying for both of us, especially since it's also very mysterious. We try to remain hopeful, but I must admit that it hasn't been so easy.

We have tried to continue doing interesting things and to live as normally as we can. Today, we took a drive to Gamla National Park, where we have been many times before, and I took David in the wheelchair on the nice paved path. I'll post more about that, including a picture, in the next post.

The scorpion hunters

Last night, as we were preparing to go to bed, we got an unwelcome surprise. David was grabbing a light blanket to put over himself when he felt something crawl on him. By the time he saw what it was, it was going down the edge of the bed, and before he could get something to squish it, the black scorpion had crept under the bed!

The black scorpions here are not aggressive, and we've found several before in the house, but never up on the 2nd floor, in the bedroom. Luckily, we've never been stung, but I've been told that their sting is very painful!

We tried moving the bed back and forth to ferret out the scorpion, but it managed to remain steadfastly under there somewhere where we could get it or even see it. We knew that we had better be careful if we got up during the night not to step on it! I figured that mostly it would want to hide, but, in the dark (although we DO have a night light!), it might come out and go exploring.

Sure enough, in the wee hours, when I happened to be awake, I heard one of the cats scratching around near the far corner of the room. After a while, I sat up to take a look and saw that it was Pascal, our BIG one-year-old male who is mostly black with a white chin and chest and some white on his paws. I was pretty sure that he was after the scorpion. Somewhat later, I decided to put on my glasses and go over there and check more carefully. By then, his sister, Peachy, our petite adorable calico, had joined him, and, sure enough, there was the scorpion, probably already dead. I didn't take any chance though -- I took several paper towels, made sure it was thoroughly squished, and put it in the trash. The cats didn't really get what I had done and continued to look for it for some time after. Of course, I petted them and praised them (quietly, though, so as not to wake David!).

Since I had found the cats with scorpions a time or two before, I wasn't too surprised. By the way, our American cat, Katom, simply stayed up on the bed, sleeping!

A surprise on Friday night

Last night, the room where we hold our prayers every Friday night (at Emet v'Shalom, in Nahariya) was full of chairs. This is because we knew that a group of about 88 young people from the States would be attending. They arrived a little late, but we didn't start until they got there.

Early in the prayers, before L'cha Dodi, the rabbi's wife came over to me and told me that I was requested to join the rabbi (who always leads the prayers) up front. He has had me join him a few times before, mostly when his voice felt a little shaky and he wanted some extra support, so I wasn't too surprised.

Throughout L'cha Dodi, I noticed that he didn't sing as much as usual, leaving much of it to me. At the end of L'cha Dodi, he suddenly took off his tallit, handed the microphone to me, said תמשיך! tamshikh! ("Continue!"), and quickly walked to the back and out the door. I knew he must really not be feeling well to do something like that, and I also knew that I had better pull it together and concentrate in leading the prayers to the very best of my ability. I did notice that several people followed him out the door to help him.

The singing part is not too difficult for me, although I hadn't really prepared mentally for it, of course. The parts where the leader simply reads the Hebrew are more difficult except for a few parts of the Amidah that I know well. After I stumbled through the middle part of the first Psalm ("Mizmor Shir L'Yom HaShabbat") after L'cha Dodi, Odelia and Ayelet, two of the teenagers in the congregation came up and asked if I wanted their help! Boy, did I! These two girls are both native Hebrew (and English!) speakers, so the reading is pretty easy for them. When I try to read these things, I sound like a 2nd grader -- with a horrible accent, to boot!

Various other people helped out with other aspects of the evening, and, all in all, I think it was a success. This morning, I found out that the rabbi was having a high-blood-pressure attack but that he's OK now.

Leaving the hospital (and some pics from my stay there)

On Thursday, they finally released me from the hospital. The main reason they were keeping me, I believe, was so that I could continue to receive the intravenous (i.e. directly into the vein) antibiotics 3 times a day (about 6 a.m., about 1-2 p.m., and about 9:30 p.m.). Another reason was so that my bandage could be changed every day. I actually never felt very sick the whole time I was there.

Tomorrow (Sunday), I'll go into Maccabi (our HMO) to get the bandage changed again. Then, on Tuesday I have an appointment at the hospital outpatient clinic for them to check me again (and no doubt to change the bandage again, too).

Last Monday, while I was still hospitalized, I took a little hike out behind the hospital and down to the helicopter pad. Here are a couple of pictures I shot from there. This first one shows the bridge on the Tzfat bypass, which runs around below Tzfat on the south side and then connects to highway 90, the Jordan Valley highway. This bridge is said to be the highest bridge in the Middle East!

Finally, here's the view of the south side of the hospital, looking back up from the helipad. The building on the left, which is connected to the main building on the right, is where the emergency room is located.
Note that I did not leave the fenced hospital grounds for this entire hike. In fact, that first picture was actually taken by holding my phone through the chain link fence (topped with barb-wire!).

Pictures from today

Here are edited versions (Photo Shop for iPhone) of 4 pictures I snapped today in and around the hospital.

I hiked all the to the top of the main stairwell, and all the way to the bottom. At the top were 2 doors. The locked one obviously led to the elevator mechanism room. The other door was wide open to the room you can see in the 2nd picture. The 1st pic shows a close-up of the floor-tile pattern, the same one used throughout the hospital wards.

Since the door at the other end of the room led directly out onto the roof, it was, of course, locked. But the window right next to it was wide open with no screen. I could easily have climbed through it out onto the roof, but I restrained myself. Instead, I reached out through it with my phone held as high as possible and snapped the 3rd pic you see here, a sweeping view of most of the Kinneret (the "Sea of Galilee") with the rim of the hospital roof in the foreground.

The last picture shows the sunset behind הר מרון Mt. Meron. I took it just a few minutes ago, from the balcony next to my unit's dining room, but it's essentially the view from my room!

Har Meron from the hospital

Here's the view of הר מרון Har Meron, the highest point in Israel west of the Jordan River, as seen from the balcony on the other side of my hospital unit's dining room.

The Kinneret from the hospital

On both sides of the dining room of my unit at the hospital there are outdoor balconies. The post and the next show the views from these balconies. In this view you can see Akhbara and the cliffs behind it. Further away is the Kinneret (the "Sea of Galilee"), including Tverya ("Tiberias") on the right.

A totally new adventure

I'm on a totally new adventure. It really all started a couple of weeks ago, but I didn't know then what a different experience it was going to be.

For some reason, my left elbow tends to get really dry. I try to remember to put moistening cream on it, but the cream is greasy, of course, so I often put off doing it, even for days! I think I'll be more diligent from now on.

Here's what happened. The skin cracked, and some nasty little germs managed to get established in there. I noticed, of course, that it was infected, but I figured it would heal up shortly. Boy, was I wrong!

Last Wednesday, I finally made an appointment and went to see the doctor. Our regular family doctor isn't in on Wednesdays, so I saw Dr Darmon instead. We communicated quite nicely in Hebrew, he scolded me for not coming in sooner (which I deserved!), he gave me a prescription for Augmentin (a strong antibiotic), and he told me to make an appointment with the surgeon on Sunday.

By Thursday morning, I had taken 3 doses of the antibiotics, 2 on Wednesday and 1 Thursday morning. As I was having Internet connection issues while trying to teach my 1st student (such timing!), I saw a drop of yellow pus on my desk. A quick look at my elbow confirmed the problem -- the skin had broken. As soon as possible I put alcohol on it and continued to do so repeatedly throughout the day.

I realized that the danger of an even more serious infection had now increased. In the evening, at a time when I knew the nurses' clinic at the Maccabi (out HMO) office in town would be open, I had a 3-hour break between classes. So I drove into town, parked on Palmach Street (where it's free), walked down to the Maccabi office, and waited my turn to see the nurse.

As soon as the nurse saw my elbow, she immediately said I must see the surgeon. I had to wait a while until he was free, but I passed the time pleasantly enough thanks to my iPhone. ;-) As soon as the surgeon saw my elbow, he said he was sending me to the hospital!

The ER wasn't very busy, so I moved through pretty quickly. They admitted me to the hospital and told me I'd probably be having surgery the next day. The doctor also told me not to eat anything after midnight.

So, late Friday morning, wearing nothing but a hospital robe (even my earrings and wedding ring had to be removed!), I was wheeled down surgery. The surgeon triple-verified my identity (of course I know my 9-digit ID number by heart since it's used EVERYWHERE here!), the anesthesiologist had me sign giving my permission for general anesthesia, they wheeled me into the operating room, and I scooted myself over onto the narrow operating table. They hooked up the IV, put the plastic mask over my nose and mouth, and after a few deep breaths I was out!

When I woke up, I was lying comfortably on my bed in the recovery room. I felt like I had just awakened from a long, refreshing, deep sleep. Of course there was some pain in my elbow, but Ruti, the nice nurse who was there, gave me some liquid Optalgin (a common pain-reliever here in Israel). I had a fairly long and pleasant conversation with Ruti, mostly in Hebrew. Then the guy from hospital transportation took me back up to my room.

I felt just fine and was, of course, hungry. But they told me I should just drink a little water first, which I did. I later ate a little fruit but didn't eat a full meal until dinner, which I enjoyed thoroughly. I have always liked the hospital food here (having eaten a lot of David's food when he has been hospitalized here). Of course, I liked the cafeteria food when I was in college, too, so it figures.

Today (Shabbat) I'm also feeling fine and typing all this on my iPhone! Breakfast was also good.

This may not seem like such an adventure to some of you out there, but it marks a couple of important milestones for me personally. This is the very 1st time I have been hospitalized since I was born (in a hospital) more than half a century ago. It's also my 1st time under general anesthesia since I had my tonsils out (NOT in a hospital but in the doctor's office) when I was only 3 years old.

An interesting concert

Saturday night, there was a concert at our synagogue. Two great singers, our rabbi, Israel Horovitz, and a former student of his from way back in Argentina, both sang for us. The room was packed with people, and the music was varied. Included were traditional Yiddish melodies, modern Israeli favorites, and several others. For example, we heard "If I Were a Rich Man" (from "Fiddler on the Roof") -- sung in Yiddish, which seemed somehow appropriate, even though the song was certainly originally written in English. We also heard "I Did It My Way" -- in Spanish! How's that for cross-cultural?! There was even a combination of a song about a Yiddish mama and an Italian mama song! Anyway, it was an enjoyable evening.

An interesting film

Last Shabbat afternoon, David and I went down to the Cinematheque in Rosh Pinna to see an Israeli movie. The title of the movie was כלת הים, which means literally "Bride of the Sea". I suspect, though, that there's some allusion that I'm missing. At any rate, according to the Cinematheque website, the movie was in Hebrew and Arabic, with English subtitles. In fact, it was mostly in Hebrew, with some Arabic, and the subtitles were in French! Nevertheless, we were able to follow the story quite well.

The story was about a secular Jewish family in Jaffa, the mixed Jewish-Arabic part of Tel Aviv-Yafo. The family owned a car-repair shop and employed an Arab man and his son, who was 21. The family's daughter also worked there as the desk person. Without getting into too much detail, let's just say that it was a rather dysfunctional family, and that a mixed romantic relationship was a pivotal part of the plot. Add in the Jewish-Arab question and it's hardly surprising that you get a pretty sad story.

The movie was very good. The acting was great, the story was gripping, the characterizations were real and human, and the pace was well controlled. We enjoyed the movie, and I felt that the ending was appropriate, realistic, and hopeful. If you get the chance to see it, I highly recommend it!

The perils of English

This is about something I actually saw a week and a half ago. We were at the Golani Junction (between highways 77 and 65, west of Tiberias), waiting to turn left (north) onto highway 65. The car right in front of us was a rental car from some small company that I had never heard of before (and whose name I also, mercifully, don't remember!). The reason I knew this was their sign, which was in Hebrew and English. In English, their slogan was -- I kid you not! -- "In your way!" :-)

Medicine against homophobia

While I was walking up and down, exploring the Gay Pride Festival yesterday in Tel Aviv (see my previous post for more details on that), someone handed me a box. I put it into my backpack and only checked it out after we got home.

The picture below shows the flyer that was inside the box. The big picture in the middle shows you what the box looks like. It's about the size of a medicine box. In English it says: "GAYvil: Liqui-Gels", as you can see. Below that, it says, in Hebrew "a new medicine against homophobia". On the green strip, the Hebrew says "contains 20 capsules full of pride". In the green circle on the left, it says (again in Hebrew) "Is homophobia making you nauseated? 2 capsules a day and this will pass." On the lower left, it says "For details, peruse the flyer inside the package."

On the other side of the box, the title and slogan in the same English-Hebrew combination is repeated but smaller. In addition, there are the following words (my translation):

Warnings:

* It is recommended to take it out of the closet (or the cabinet) carefully.

* Do not use the gel capsules as a lubricating material.

* Side effects: the medicine can cause good taste (especially in clothes).

* It's OK to combine this medicine with OptalGay.

That last one is referring to their other "medicine", OptalGay, a play on "Optalgin", a popular pain medicine here. You can see a picture of its box at the top of the flyer shown above.

On another side of the box, the Hebrew translates to "capsules with unique homo-empathetic qualities".

And what, you may ask, was in the box besides the flyer? A variety of brightly colored jelly-beans, of course! :-)

It wasn't until I looked at the BACK side of the flyer that I saw who was sponsoring this. It's Clalit, one of the major HMOs here in Israel (we're not members of this one, but of Maccabi). They have apparently recently opened a new especially gay-friendly clinic right there beside the park where the festival was taking place. Here's a picture of the back side of the flyer -- my translation is below:

Clalit is proud to present:

Meir Park Clinic

The most equal clinic in the City

New! a clinic friendly to the gay community, in cooperation

with the Center in Meir Park. Come to receive health care in a different atmosphere.

In the clinic, you will find an attentive, open, and understanding doctor.

Meir Park Clinic. Feeling good. Feeling at home.

The clinic is open Sunday through Thursday

until the late evening hours

and on Friday until noon.

Come to visit us in the Gay Center.

For appointment scheduling, dial: 057-9900328

E-mail address for all questions: ganmeir@clalit.org.il

For additional details:

clalit.co.il/20plus

Clalit

Best for the community

Tel Aviv Gay Pride 2010

Although we've been here in Israel for four and a half years, we had never before attended the Gay Pride Festival in Tel Aviv. This year, we decided it was about time. So I arranged well in advance to take the day off from Berlitz (even though Friday is generally part of the weekend here, I am normally required to work Fridays). I got up in the morning just in time to capture this gorgeous sunrise over the Golan (taken from my study window!):

I had learned from Facebook friends that the parade would begin at גן מאיר Meir Park, a few blocks from the huge Diezengoff Center (really TWO large malls on opposite sides of the street connected by two indoor bridges across the street!). They told me I could park in the large parking lot at the central railway station and take the #18 bus from there, which is what we did. As soon as we got on the bus and I told the driver we were together (since I was paying for both of us), he asked if we were going to the מצעד "mitzad" (parade or march) and gave us a big grin!

We had to walk a few block to Meir Park, but we had no trouble, thanks to the trusty GPS on my iPhone! When we got there, we discovered that the Festival was happening there, at the beginning of the parade route, rather than at the end (although I think there was probably also a big party after the parade, too). So, we proceeded to explore the Festival. Here are some pictures that I took there. First, a broad view to give you a feel of the atmosphere:

This guy all in green was doing various poses. I couldn't resist taking some pictures. Here's one of them:
There were several people on stilts. Here's a picture of a couple of them:
And here's another one, in a beautiful gown that went nearly all the way to the ground. Although it's not so easy to see in this view, this is actually a man!

I love this guy's shirt (it says: The IDF is defending OUR values) because it's so TRUE. The IDF (the Israel Defense Force) really IS defending OUR values. Gays and lesbians have always served openly in the Israeli military. We've even had at least one openly gay general. More importantly, our rights is this country are VASTLY better than among ANY of our enemies, where GLBT people are seriously persecuted and even in mortal danger.

When we asked for more details, we learned that the parade was not scheduled to begin until 1:30 (and we had gotten there about 11:30). After exploring the Festival and sitting on a park bench there to watch people go by, we were both a rather tired, especially since it was quite hot, even in the shade. So, we decided NOT to march in the parade (we had planned to march with the bears' group) and to call it a day. We walked a few blocks to Diezengoff Center, a HUGE mall (really, TWO malls, one on either side of the street, connected by 2 enclosed pedestrian bridges over the street). We found a Greg's Cafe there, managed to get a table, and enjoyed a nice lunch in the coolness.

After eating, we took a bus back to where our car was parked and headed home. I guess we're getting old! LOL Anyway, although we wore ourselves out, we had a good time and were both glad that we had gone.

Construction update

The construction project across the street (and down a little) is proceeding rapidly. Here are a couple of pictures. This first one shows the entire upper row (along the street -- there's another row of lots behind that they're also building on):

This second picture shows just the first building (2 apartments upstairs, visible in the picture, and 2 downstairs, underneath these, facing the other way):

Newly re-opened now one-way street

Here's an update on the connection road to our neighborhood that was closed. It has been re-opened now, but, as they told us, as a one-way street (uphill ONLY!). Before re-opening it, they put in a curb and a paved side walk on the right side, and repaved the street. Here's a picture:

A perfect celebration -- the culmination of years of education

Last night, David and I celebrated our 14th anniversary (which was actually June 1). The fact that this may seem quite unremarkable to many readers is, in itself, a small miracle.

Let me unpeel the layers a bit. We'll start in the early 1970's, when gay people were generally considered depraved, sick, immoral, and undesirable people by all religious groups. The best one could hope for might be condescending pity. Gay and lesbian people at that time were usually deep in the closet, for obvious reasons. Those that weren't were hardly inclined to attend the religious institutions of any religion. In a way, David and I represent these 2 groups. He was very out at that time, and I was very deep in the closet.

A few from Christian backgrounds who did not want to abandon faith completely had formed their own denomination, the Metropolitan Community Churches. In 1972, with some help from MCC, the world's first GLBT synagogue, Beth Chayim Chadashim, was formed in Los Angeles. After some controversy, BCC was accepted as a member congregation in the Reform movement of Judaism. More GLBT synagogues followed. Much hard work was done by these pioneers, gradually opening the Reform movement to greater acceptance of queer people in all aspects of community life. We're proud to say that we were members of BCC until we moved to Israel!

Fast forward to 2010, in Nahariya, a lovely but hardly central and perhaps somewhat provincial city on the Mediterranean Sea, in northwestern Israel. David and I had talked to our rabbi, Israel Horovitz, some weeks before, letting him know that we wanted to celebrate our 14th anniversary with our congregation, and showing him our wedding pictures.

Last night was the big night, and it could hardly have been better. At the point during (or really mostly AFTER) the prayers, at which celebrations and announcements are done. Rabbi asked us to stand. He then gave a short speech in Hebrew and Spanish (the majority of the congregants, including rabbi himself, are from South America). I think I picked up most of the Hebrew. These were his main points. He told the people that David and I had decided to form a family (a powerful concept here in Israel!) 14 years ago. He said that we were an example for the congregation. And he urged us to continue our path.

Everyone congratulated us afterwards, including visitors (who were dear friends of the rabbi and his wife). I detected not one iota of animosity or avoidance whatsoever. People there were truly happy for us, and expressed their love and affection for us openly. We could not have felt more supported!

After the kiddush (wine, bread, and refreshments following the prayers), our friends Egonne and Yehudit (a couple, and the only other non-straight people in the congregation) had invited us to their house and told us that we could invite several others among our closest friends. In all, there were 9 of us, ranging from a straight couple in their late 30's or early 40's to a survivor of Auschwitz who is in her mid-80's. It was one of the best parties I've ever been to, with delicious food and lively and fun conversation! Thanks, Egonne and Yehudit!

Now, take a deep breath, and try to tie this all together. Could the people nearly 40 years ago have ever imagined such a possibility: a gay couple being honored by a mainline congregation in a small city on the fringes of Israel?

They say that the personal is political, and this story could hardly illustrate it better. And there's yet one more point that must be made. Many on the left of the political spectrum have expressed solidarity with the enemies of Israel and have been very quick to villify the world's only Jewish country. I'd like to remind all of you about the state of our GLBT sisters and brothers in the rest of the Middle East, including all of the countries that our trying to destroy Israel and, especially, in the areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas. These unfortunate folks are in an even worse situation than the gays in the U.S. were in in the 1970's. These people are in constant and real danger of being murdered, not only by their governments, but even by their own families. Many have actually fled (or attempted to flee) to Israel, the great enemy according to all that they have been taught, rather than face death in their own communities.

The same governments and other entities (such as the PA and Hamas) who are trying to destroy Israel are the very ones who also actively promote this extreme persecution of gays and lesbians. They are NOT friends of the queer community in any sense and certainly deserve no support whatsoever from the GLBT community. Please remember this!

For more information, check out this link:

http://www.gaymiddleeast.com/

Jordan River canyon

Today we took a drive on a gravel road that we'd never been on before. I knew from my map that it existed, but previous times the weather had recently been rainy, so I figured it would be too muddy to go on. But now the weather has been dry for some time, so it was a good time.

The road begins at the switchback on highway 91 just before it crosses the Jordan River and heads up to the Golan. So, instead of crossing the river, we followed it south on the west side. This is the area where the Jordan River flows from the broad, flat, fertile Hula Valley through a rather narrow canyon and on down to the Kinneret (the "Sea of Galilee"). This gravel road is quite high above the river all the way, but at at least one point there is a cross road (also gravel) that goes right down to the river, to a bridge across the river, known as גשר כפר הנשיא Gesher Kfar HaNasi. The name comes from Kfar HaNasi ("President Town"), which is where the same road goes in the other direction (I only know this from my map, and from Google Earth!). We can see Kfar HaNasi from our house. Here's a picture of the bridge:

However, in the above picture, you can't quite see the west end of the bridge. In the next picture, you can see why it's not possible to drive across this bridge:
The west approach has been washed out by the river. Nevertheless, it was easy for me to WALK onto the bridge. Here's the view from about the middle of the bridge, looking downstream (south):
And here's the view from the same spot, looking upstream (north):
Though it may now be so clear from these pictures, there's really quite a lot of water flowing in the river, especially for nearly the end of May.

This point on the Jordan is about the closest point to our house, but of course we can't see it because it's down in the narrow canyon.

Closure of the main access road to our neighborhood

As I've mentioned before, a lot of construction has been happening in our neighborhood in the last several years. Most of this has been generally positive, including the elimination of a couple of ugly, never-completed structures. However, a few weeks ago, the construction caused a serious problem.

The main access road to our part of the neighborhood was always too narrow, but one of the construction projects has now made it so dangerous that the city has closed it completely! On the satellite image below, I have shown the problem. The marker shows where our house is (although the picture was taken before it was built). I have drawn a yellow line to show our former route out of the neighborhood. Then I drew 2 short blue lines to indicate the ends of the road they closed (putting big rocks to be sure that no one can drive there!). The magenta line shows our new route, which is now the only paved road connecting us with the rest of the world!

Here are a couple of pictures on the ground. This first one shows the new wall that was built, and you can see part of the duplex that it's a wall for on the right side of the picture. The road used to go right where the car is parked! There is still room for a road between the wall and the other house's wall, but it does not line up with the lower part of the road, and the high wall creates the danger, especially for pedestrians, if the road remained open.
Here's the view from the opposite direction, looking down half of the closed segment:
Clearly, the problem is one of city planning. While this construction may have been technically legal, it certainly should never have been allowed. I don't know how the law works here, but I know that, in the U.S. (whose law is based on English common law, as is Israel's!), if an owner of a property allows the public to pass over a part of his property for a certain number of years, the passage becomes a public thoroughfare and cannot be closed to the public. This is the reason you see so many "No Trespassing" signs in the States -- it's not so much that the owner cares if you go there; he just doesn't want it to legally become a public road, and I'm pretty sure that he could use the presence of the signs to prove that he did NOT actually ALLOW the public to go there.

A couple of days ago, we received a letter in our mailbox from the city that had no addressee listed on it. I suspected that this meant that it was a general letter to all residents of the area, and, indeed, that's what it was. Here's the letter, which I scanned in:
I'm not sure if this will work, but you may be able to click on it to see an enlarged version, which should then be legible -- well, at least if you read Hebrew. Since most of you probably DON'T read that much Hebrew, here's my translation (with my sometimes snide comments enclosed in square brackets):

To All Residents of the Neve Oranim Neighborhood

In the course of the last year, a period of accelerated construction has begun throughout the neighborhood, and as a result many residents have exercised their property rights [Hmmmm... apparently including the right to cause the closure of our main access road!]. On 4 April we arranged a comprehensive working tour throughout the neighborhood with all the professional municipal staff in order to join you in solving the problems that have arisen as a result:

1. The road connecting parts of the neighborhood [Well, at least they know what the NUMBER ONE problem is!]

• Close to the connecting road [well actually ACROSS most of the road itself!], construction was carried out, in accordance with the law [notice how they made sure to mention this], as a result of which the road became very dangerous, and therefore a directive was received [from whom? obviously no one wants to take responsibility for this!] to close it immediately at both ends.

• The city engineer, with approval from the Office of Transportation, is checking into the possibility of a temporary solution of making this a one-way street [NOT a good solution, and why would it be temporary, anyway?!?]. However, until a decision is received from the Office of Transportation, the street will remain closed in both directions for reasons of safety and mortal danger.

• The municipality of Tzfat has already been awarded 2.5 million shekels (about $660,000) from the Office of Transportation for planning and implementation of the main streets and sidewalks [it doesn't say WHAT they will be planning and implementing!] in the neighborhood, and we are working to proceed quickly ["quickly" is a relative term in Israel!].

2. Street lighting

• During 2010 we will be investing in the construction of a regional electrical center [this probably means a new substation, I assume], and at the appropriate time we will connect the northern part of the neighborhood to the electrical system [I think they mean only the street lights here -- all of us are ALREADY connected to the electrical system! But this is NOT good news! We really don't WANT our street lights anyway! We like seeing the stars at night. Besides, all this electrical work is probably going to cause power outrages, especially on days when I have lots of students -- this one could costs me big time!].

3. Street signage

• In the next few months, we will be preparing new signs [of course they're NEW -- we don't currently have ANY street signs at all!] with names of the streets in the neighborhood plus house numbering. [This, finally, is really GOOD news!]

4. Municipal supervision

• All contractors building throughout the neighborhood have received directions regarding cleanliness and order on building sites, and any damage to the infrastructure of the neighborhood will be repaired by the end of the work. Any contractor violating these directions will be fined in accordance with the law. [Hmmm... will this be more than a small fine that amounts to nothing but a gentle slap on the wrists?]

We in the Municipality of Tzfat understand the daily difficulties that residents of the neighborhood are currently experiencing, and we are working with maximum speed to finish the planning processes and solutions listed above.

In the near future, we will arrange a general meeting of the residents of the neighborhood in which we will give details and present the additional plans of the municipality for the neighborhood. Thank you for your patience, and we apologize for the disappointment.

With blessings,

Ilan Shochat

Mayor

So, there you have it. In exchange for really botching the planning of access to the neighborhood, they are going to make some as yet unspecified improvements and they're going to finally put up street signs. Why am I not impressed?

The Grand Canyon, in Haifa

Last Sunday, we had an appointment with David's doctor at Rambam Medical Center. Since we were already in Haifa, and we wanted to check out the new Apple Store, we decided to head up to the Grand Canyon -- no, not in Arizona and, in fact, not even a canyon, but a קניון kanyon ("mall"). As an interlinguistic play on words, this large mall in Haifa is actually called גרנד קניון Grand Canyon! I had been there once or twice before (in 2005), but this was David's first visit. The Apple Store there, however, is new. Anyway, we ate lunch there, ended up buying a couple of small items at the Apple Store, and then headed on home.

Another trip to Agamon HaHula

On Wednesday this past week, it just so happened that I had no classes scheduled. So we decided to take our friend, Cynthia, to Agamon HaHula, which we had promised her some time ago that we would. This is really not the season, since nearly all the migrating birds have long since headed further north. But it was still very beautiful. The sun was warm, but there was a perfect breeze to cool us without making us cold.

Here's a nice picture I took from there of Keren Naphtali ("Horn of Naphtali"):

The Grinding Machine

There has been a lot of construction going on in our neighborhood lately. The biggest project is the one across the street from us and down a little, where they are currently building 3 buildings which apparently will each have 4 apartments. They have also leveled 3 additional lots and have begun drilling foundations on them, as well. So, there will be 3 more buildings, although I don't know yet how many apartments each of them will contain.

Earlier this week, they unloaded this strange machine on a track vehicle. At first I didn't know what it was, but it wasn't long until we found out. It's a machine that grinds rocks into gravel. In this first picture, you can see the rim of the big bin that the rocks are dumped into:

In this 2nd picture, you can see the machine in action. The "monster" has just dumped a load of rocks into the bin. On the right side, you can see the belt where the grinding machine is dumping the gravel it has produced. Behind the grinding machine, you can see a big pile of white gravel that it produced earlier. Finally, on the far right side of the picture, you can see Har Khermon (Mt. Hermon), the highest point in Israel, in the distance.

Israel's 62nd Birthday and Us

Today (Tuesday) is יום העצמאות Yom Ha'Atzma'ut ("Independence Day") here in Israel. So we are celebrating Israel's 62nd birthday today. Most businesses (including Berlitz!) are closed today, except for some restaurants and, of course, gas stations.

Every year, Yom Ha'Atzma'ut is preceded immediately by יום הזכרון Yom HaZikaron ("Memory Day"), when we remember all the many people, soldiers and civilians, who died in Israel's wars and terror attacks. It's a very solemn day, since nearly every family here has at least one loved one whom they are remembering. The only programs on TV are those showing grieving

families and telling about their loss. Men are at least as likely to be seen openly crying as women -- army buddies comfort each other with warm hugs.

At the end of the day, to mark the transition from "Memorial Day" to "Independence Day", every year there is a huge nationally televised ceremony held on הר הרצל Har Herzl ("Mt. Herzl") in Jerusalem. The proceedings start solemnly, with bugles heralding the entrance of important dignitaries. The Speaker of the Knesset (the Israeli Parliament) gave a speech. With much pomp and circumstance, the ceremony continues. Each year, Israeli citizens from diverse backgrounds are chosen to light 12 torches, symbolizing the 12 tribes of Israel. Each person gives a short speech, always ending with ולתפארת מדינת ישראל ultiferet m'dinat Yisrael "and to the glory of the State of Israel") just before lighting the torch.

The ceremony then progresses to a joyous celebration of "Independence Day", with live music and elaborate professional dances. The theme this year was the 150th birthday of Theodor Herzl, the real founder of the State of Israel, even though he died more than 40 years before it was actually achieved. At one point, people carrying flags formed a picture of Herzl's profile on the large open area!

Today, David and I decided to take a drive to the Lower Galil (the more southern parts of Galilee), trying out a couple of roads that we had never driven on before. After traveling through the part of עמק יזרעאל Emek Yizre'el ("The Jezreel Valley"), we passed through Afula and took the highway from there to נצרת Natzeret ("Nazareth"). We had never been on this beautiful 4-lane highway before, and part of it is apparently quite new, since it's only shown as dotted lines on my relatively recent map. The new part is very dramatic, too! It rises on a bridge across the face of a canyon and then enters a tunnel (actually TWO tunnels, one for traffic in each direction), after which it follows another narrow valley up to Natzeret. Here's a picture of the bridge:

My 2nd Drasha in Hebrew

Last night, I delivered my 2nd drasha (sermon) in Hebrew at our Reform congregation, Emet vShalom, in Nahariya. Rabbi Israel Horowitz had asked me a couple of weeks ago to do it. If you'd like to read it in the Hebrew original, I posted it on my Hebrew blog at this address (I don't think it will be a clickable link here -- you'll probably have to copy and paste it):

http://harpatkaot-beretz-haniflaot.blogspot.com/2010/04/blog-post.html

Here's my English translation of it:

Shabbat Shalom!

This week's Torah portion is Shmini. In this portion we read about many sacrifices and about the precise procedures that the priests followed in order to offer all these offerings in the tabernacle in the wilderness. We also read about the strange death of Nadav and Avihu, sons of Aaron who offered "foreign fire" before Adonai. After that, it is written: "And fire went out from before Adonai and consumed them and they died before Adonai"! Perhaps even worse than this, Aaron was not allowed to mourn for these sons of his! It's very hard to understand stories like this!

In the haftara, there is a similar story. This happened after King David had established his capital in Jerusalem. He decided to bring the Ark of God to Jerusalem, to a place in the capital of the kingdom. King David arranged a big party, with all kinds of music and dancing, and all the people went up in great happiness. But, apparently, the road was a little rough, and the Ark almost fell from the new cart on which it was riding. A man named Uzzah touched the Ark to prevent it from falling. We might think that he would be thanked for this. But the exact opposite occurred! God killed him immediately, right on the spot!

When we read things like this in the Tanakh, we today may feel that we live in a completely different world from that of the Tanakh. But, as I thought more about this, I realized even now things happen that we can't explain or understand. Perhaps our world is NOT so different.

There is also a story of hope in this haftara. King David wanted to build a house for Adonai. Nevertheless, God wouldn't let him build the Temple. But King David did receive a very good promise. Adonai promised him that his kingdom would be forever and that his son would build the Temple of Adonai in Jerusalem. And until this very day, whenever we celebrate a simcha, we sing "Siman tov umazel tov umazel tov usiman tov ... David, King of Israel, lives on!" And, at the end of every Havdalah ceremony, we sing, "with mashiach, son of David."

Shabbat Shalom!

Pesach 2010 at the Loberants'

Last night, we celebrated פסח Pesach (Passover) for the 2nd year in a row at the home of our friends, the Loberants, in Nahariya. We had an absolutely wonderful time! Here are a couple of the many pictures that I snapped with my iPhone.

First, my beloved, David, who was, of course, sitting right next to me:

The Loberants have a wonderful tradition for the kids. They dress up in costumes representing the various characters in the well-known Pesach song, Chad Gadya, and then play out the actions described in the song. Here's a shot of most of the "cast" in their post-performance pose. From the left are Norm (our host, the grandfather), six of his grandkids, and one of his sons, Moshe:

The Kinneret View Tower

Yesterday, Shabbat, was a nice day, so we decided to take a drive. I picked some roads southwest of the Kinneret that we had never been on before.

We started on the first new road at Kfar Tavor, which is just east of Har Tavor (Mt. Tabor). From there we drove east across a fertile, fairly flat plain. Just before the end of this flat part, we had to wait because a truck trailer had either overturned or just slipped off into the ditch, and a big crane was there trying to get it back up onto the highway, blocking both lanes (it's only a 2-lane road). Finally, the crane finished it's work and we could get past.

Shortly after that, the road descended into a valley and went through a town. After that, we went up a bit and came to a junction. I saw a gas station just to the right of the junction with this tower. We both needed to use the restroom, but, of course, I also wanted to go up this tower for the view!
We readily paid the price of 2 shekels per person and started walking up the tower. When I got to the top, here's the first thing I noticed:
A handy place to make a nest for your eggs, isn't it? Except maybe for all the humans that could disturb them.

The views from the tower were indeed spectacular. Here's the view towards the northeast, showing most of the Kinneret (the "Sea of Galilee"):

Looking east, you can see the southern end of the Kinneret and, beyond that, the southern end of the Golan. Further right are hills in Jordan:

This is the view looking southeast, showing the Jordan River valley south of the Kinneret and, again, hills in Jordan on the other side:

For the curious among you, here's a Google satellite image with the position of the tower shown very precisely with the stick pin. My iPhone got the location exactly right!